INSIDE: Christmas is definitely the worst holiday when it comes to cash flow, am I right? But don’t worry. I’ve compiled 36 ways you can make money for Christmas right here!
In just a few short months we will be celebrating one of the most festive, yet often stressful, holidays of the year – Christmas. This time of year isn’t just stressful because of gift giving, but you may find yourself in need of additional funds for taxes, increased utility bills due to the cold weather or children’s school activities.
Here are more than 35 ways to make money for Christmas
Regardless of why you need the cash, read on for 36 ways to make money for the winter holidays.
1. Work at Home as a Seasonal Customer Service Rep
This is one of the easiest work-at-home jobs to land. There are so many companies – big names like HSN, Williams-Sonoma and Amazon– looking for temporary seasonal phone and chat reps to answer questions and enter sales during the holiday shopping season. And the pay isn’t too shabby – usually $9 to $15 per hour – with regular paydays.
While it typically takes months to receive your first remote job offer, the seasonal customer service jobs create the busiest hiring times. If you are open to this type of work, you may be able to get on the fast track to getting hired and training for your first work-at-home job. And, if you are good at it, it may turn into a year-round position!
Learn more about holiday work-from-home jobs here.
2. Earn with Swagbucks
I’m a big fan of Swagbucks, especially when it comes to figuring out ways to make money for Christmas. Earn points called SB that can be redeemed for gift cards and cash by PayPal. Many people let their SB rack up all year and redeem them for gift cards when the holiday season rolls around. This can be a great way to cut down on your out-of-pocket spending.
One of the easiest ways to earn right now is watching videos. I explore the other ways to score SB with my Swagbucks review.
3. Make Money with Your Car
What if your car could make money for Christmas? This is a great time to become a driver with Uber or DoorDash as people want to get out and shop without having to worry about parking spaces and a cold steering wheel. Then there are the folks exhausted from holiday engagements who just don’t feel like cooking dinner – and let’s not forget those needing a designated driver home from holiday get-togethers.
Depending on your location, this can be a very flexible way to earn extra money. And all you need is a car and smartphone!
Learn more about getting paid to drive.
4. Deliver Groceries
This year has really brought the ease and convenience of grocery delivery to the forefront. Some stores offer to do the shopping and delivery for you. In other cases, people – or stores – prefer to contract the services of Instacart or Shipt.
Instacart hires two types of grocery shoppers. Full-Service Shoppers do both grocery shopping and delivering. In-Store Shoppers do the shopping only. Customers then pick up their groceries from the store. Full-Service Shoppers need their own cars and may enjoy a more flexible schedule. In-Store Shoppers do not need a car but may have a more set schedule.
Learn more here about making money by buying groceries.
5. Deliver Lunch
There are also several companies that hire delivery drivers for restaurant orders. These opportunities are incredibly flexible and you don’t have to worry about letting strangers in your car.
Some locations even allow for deliveries by scooter, bike or on foot! DoorDash is one of the more popular apps, but you may also want to check out GrubHub or UberEats.
6. Decluttr
One of the oldest and fastest ways to earn extra cash and make money for Christmas is by getting rid of your unwanted stuff. Get rid of those old smartphones, electronics, video games and more on the Decluttr app. They will even take books and LEGO.
7. Earn Extra Money with Crowdsourcing Websites
Make a little cash completing small business tasks and more on sites like FancyHands or mTurk. The pay isn’t great, but there’s usually no schedule or specific time commitment involved. Hop on whenever you have a few minutes.
Learn more about micro job sites here.
8. Charge Scooters
Do you live in a large city? Have you seen those bright colored scooters parked on every corner? Those need to be charged every night, and you could get paid to do it!
Lime and Bird are two big names in this industry that pay contractors to charge and/or repair these rentable scooters. Learn more about getting paid to charge scooters here.
9. Make Money Shopping
I love Rakuten, formerly Ebates, especially when I want to make money for Christmas. Earn cashback when shopping at your favorite online merchants. You’ll get a $10 bonus when you sign up and make a qualifying purchase. You’ll be happy you joined when it comes time to do your online Christmas shopping!
Learn more about Rakuten here
10. Remember Christmas Clubs?
Some banks used to offer “Christmas Club” savings accounts in which they would deposit a specific amount of money every month to get you ahead of the game for the holidays. Some banks still do this. If yours doesn’t, check out Qapital. This is a neat new app that allows you to set savings goals.
One thing I really like about this app is that you can get it working with your personality. You can set rules such as a $20 per week fast food budget. If you go over that limit, you can set your Qapital to deposit a specific amount of money as your punishment. (Either way, you save money. Right?) If you are a rewards-motivated person, you can tell Qapital to deposit the remaining balance of that budget into savings if you don’t spend $20 on fast food this week. I love that!
Qapital is not a bank but they do keep your funds in an FDIC-insured bank. They also stop all transfers that would leave you with less than $100 in your funding account so there is less risk of overdrafts.
11. Make Money with Ibotta
What better way to make money for Christmas than to earn cash back rebates when you grocery shop? Now that the app links up to many chain grocers like Walmart and Baker’s, it’s easier than ever to participate. And we’ve all got to eat! Ibotta also offers cash rebates for online shopping (similarly to Rakuten).
12. Clear Off Your Bookshelves
In our recent post about becoming an Amazon FBA seller, it was brought to my attention how lucrative selling used books on Amazon – and elsewhere – can be. It’s also a great flexible gig for those looking to do something part-time or just on the weekends.
Learn more about selling used books here
13. Trade-in Stuff for Amazon Credit
There are several ways to get rid of unwanted books, electronics, DVDs, or video games. If you’re looking for a convenient way to get rid of these items, you may be interested in Amazon’s trade-in program. You can receive free Amazon gift cards for items you trade, plus Amazon will pay for shipping costs on the items you send them.
Learn more about the Amazon trade-in program here
14. Save Your Change
So, maybe my husband and I are the only people that still keep some cash on hand. If not, start saving your change. This can really add up over time! Especially if you start saving your $1 bills in addition to coin change. When the holidays roll around, you may have quite a bit saved up.
15. Save Your Digital Change
Chime is a new banking option with no fees. (No overdraft, no minimum balance, no monthly service fees, no foreign transaction fees, and no transfer fees. Over 38,000 fee-free MoneyPass® and Visa Plus Alliance ATMs, plus 30,000+ cash-back locations.)
When you bank with Chime, you get a Chime Visa® Debit Card, a Spending Account, and an optional Savings Account – all managed through a beautifully designed mobile banking app.
Save When You Spend automatically rounds up transactions to the nearest dollar and transfers the Round-Up from your Spending Account into your Savings Account app. You can also choose to have 10% of your deposits automatically added to your savings.
16. Become a Mystery Shopper
This is a great opportunity that you can do whenever you want to make money for Christmas. There is no big commitment involved, but make sure you’re careful and only accept legitimate opportunities.
Learn more about Mystery Shopping here
17. Become a Website Tester
Give website owners your opinion on what they could improve to make your visit better; work with established companies and complete prescribed walkthroughs of specific tasks.
Find website testing jobs here
18. Make Money Writing
Freelance writing jobs are an extremely lucrative gig if you have a love for grammar and research. If you have knowledge in a specialized area like personal finance or healthcare, you can easily charge $150 or more per article. A few of those and your income goals have been met!
19. Work On-Demand
Freelancing doesn’t just mean working online. There are some great opportunities to earn extra cash in your community, from carpooling to local deliveries to housework and handyman gigs.
These sites will help you find on-demand work.
20. Open a saving or checking account
When you are trying to make money for Christmas, you’ll need a place to save it, and that can actually make you more money!
There are many online banks that offer nice bonuses when opening a new account. You will often need to meet a minimum dollar amount for your first deposit or enroll in direct deposit. NerdWallet keeps a running list of current promotions here.
21. Get Paid to Lose Weight
You know it’s coming in the face of all these rich holiday meals! Why not make it a game, go into the holidays healthier, and make some cash from your exercise and dieting efforts?
Learn how to get paid to lose weight here.
Not too concerned about losing weight? That’s okay! You can also get paid to walk.
22. Buy Low, Sell High with Retail Arbitrage
Maybe you have already sold all of your unwanted stuff. Want to know where to get some more cheap goods for reselling on eBay, Amazon, Craigslist or Facebook? This post about Retail Arbitrage has some great ideas.
23. Start a Blog
So maybe you won’t be able to generate extra cash for this Christmas, but starting a blog now may help you have things in place for the next one. And blogs can generate income all year long.
It really isn’t that hard to start a blog.
24. Trim Your Bills
Sometimes knowing how to make money for Christmas just comes down to saving money.
Trim is a free app that can help you save money. Link it up to your credit card or bank account and it will then start scanning for recurring subscriptions you no longer use. Once it finds them, it can then cancel them for you if you would like. In some cases, it can even negotiate a lower cable or telephone bill on your behalf!
25. Earn Free Gift Cards
I love free gift cards. And there are so many ways to earn them today! You can complete surveys, do small tasks, or even turn in your spare change. Check out my top ways to earn free gift cards here.
26. Be a Brand Ambassador
Have you ever been to a baseball game or “taste of the city” event and noticed those smiling, happy people handing out samples of the latest sports drink or branded swag? They all have matching t-shirts and matching enthusiasm? Those are brand ambassadors. And this can be a really lucrative gig!
Learn how to become a brand ambassador here
27. Be a Field Agent
Field Agent is a smartphone app that will allow you to pick up small gigs in your community. You may be checking a store for a price or seeing if a product display is up and fully stocked.
28. Stockpile
Stockpile is a site I started dabbling in a few years back to make money for Christmas. You can buy fractional stocks of your favorite companies. That means even though a single stock of a popular company is currently out of reach, you can buy just $25 worth through Stockpile if you like.
Some companies pay dividends which means you could have a little cash showing up every quarter if your stocks are performing well.
29. Earn Extra Money as a Pet Sitter
People travel during the holidays. Make a little extra money watching their furkids. If you’d prefer not to pet sit, you can also score some holiday funds as a dog walker – spare pet-owners the cold or give dogs the attention busy folks lack time for during this busy holiday season. Check out Rover or Wag!
30. Sell on eBay
eBay is another great way to make money by selling unwanted items – or by having those hot holiday items that you manage to score and then flip for a higher price. Sarah Titus has some great tips for getting started and becoming successful.
Learn how to make a living with eBay here
31. Event Staff
Craigslist has a little section called “Gigs.” Under Gigs you will find “Events.” It’s common to find some really cool opportunities to make money for Christmas in there depending on your location.
In my area recently, I saw gigs for political canvassers paying $15 per hour, event cleanup for $9/hour, hosting a trivia tournament and much more! So what if this isn’t stuff you want to do for the rest of your life! If you need cash and can earn $100 in one night doing something safe and legal, I’d sure do it.
32. Flip Stuff
Have you ever been to a second-hand store or flea market and thought, “Gosh. That’s cool. It’s not for me, but someone would love it.” I have. And flipping is a great way to earn some extra cash in those situations. Buy it cheap. Sell it for a profit.
Watch this free Flipper uUniversity webinar for more info
33. Rent a Room (or your whole house)
If you have the extra space or are planning to be away from home from an extended period of time, consider signing up as a host with a service like Airbnb or VRBO. Many travelers today prefer the amenities of home over a hotel, especially with the current state of the world. This can be a great way to make money, not only for Christmas, but even to help with the mortgage.
34. Sell Your Wares at Vendor Events
This time of year, we see a lot of handmade vendor events popping up. If you have a hand for handcrafting, it’s time to get busy. You will want to think about things you can make that would make for great holiday gifts, like embroidered dish cloths, hand-painted wall quotes, crocheted scarves and hats, handcrafted Christmas ornaments, etc.
Here are some ideas for what to sell at holiday craft shows.
35. Sell Your Unwanted Stuff
If you’re down to the wire and need cash fast, hit up your basem*nt, closets and garage for unwanted items. There are tons of companies that will take your unwanted items – and some don’t even require you to leave the house! I personally love Poshmark and have been selling stuff there for months.
Learn more about how to make money on Poshmark here
36. Make Money with Your Smartphone
This list is just the tip of the iceberg. Luckily, there are many more opportunities out there. And many only require a smartphone to get started! Here are 5 Android apps that can make you money.
Final thoughts about how to make money for Christmas
With these ideas for how to make money for Christmas you can easily make enough to make this your family’s best Christmas ever! Which one sounds like the most fun? Is there one that you could easily do? Get started today!
First published August 2015. Updated October 2020.
